Planning Commission Opposes Peach Grove Apartment Changes | Local News

Harrisonburg Planning Commission opposes plans to change space originally slated for commercial use to apartments at the Apartments At Peach Grove.

The change was the subject of a public hearing at the advisory panel’s Wednesday meeting.

Previously approved plans for the project call for 400 bedrooms and 16,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor, according to applicant documents.

However, with the pandemic recession, there is less need for the commercial space due to an increase in commercial vacancies caused by business closures, according to the applicant’s representative, Mac Nichols, a lawyer at Harrisonburg firm Flora Pettit.

The applicant, Skylar & Talli LLC, wants to turn the commercial space on the first floor into residential space, which would add roughly 60 new beds to the planned six-story apartment block on 5.44 acres at 1051 and 1351 Peach Grove Ave. off Port Republic Road.

Even with the new units, it would not be an increased burden on traffic that was previously expected to come with the project, according to city staff.

Nichols said two potential buyers of the property have backed out of a deal with the developer. The buyers have said they would be unable to find businesses to move into the commercial space, according to Nichols.

He also said students moving into the property would free up other homes across town, helping alleviate the city’s low rental vacancy rate of 2% to 3.5%. A healthy rental vacancy rate is 5% to 7%, according to a city housing study.

“It’s very possible this could really help the affordable housing situation for other people in the city by opening up some of these other properties where students are living,” Nichols said.

The development received an unfavorable recommendation back when it first came to the Planning Commission in 2019, 4-3, but did even worse on Wednesday. Commissioners Adriel Byrd and Isaac Hull were absent, but all five present commissioners voted to recommend City Council deny the request.

Planning Commission Chair Brent Finnegan said he was opposed to the project in 2019 and the same was true Wednesday.

“Many of my concerns in 2019 remain my concerns today,” he said, citing how “pedestrian hostile” the plans for the development are with the building’s “parking moat.” He also said it encourages even more driving to James Madison University, causing more demand for parking decks when the land would have been better used for housing.

Commissioner Kathy Whitten said she also remains opposed to the project from when she first voted against it two years ago.

“I think the overarching concern I have is the proof we have that we do not have a need for more student housing,” she said, citing the housing study about Harrisonburg completed earlier this year.

Previously, City Council approved the rezoning and three special-use permits for the development on May 28, 2019, to allow the project with commercial space on the first floor. City staff had asked the developers to build the property fronting Peach Grove Avenue.

Staff also recommended denial of Wednesday’s request from the applicant and previously recommended denial of the project’s original requests to Planning Commission and City Council in 2019.

Commissioner Richard Baugh, who voted in favor of the project while he was on City Council, said he voted against the request Wednesday because the area is slated for more mixed-use in the future, and letting this project change to simply residential could cause future developers to come and request the same for their projects.

This would counteract the goal of increasing mixed-use developments in the neighborhood, according to Baugh.

There were no speakers during the public comment period Wednesday.

The project will go to City Council for a vote on Sept. 14, according to Finnegan.

Nichols said he could not answer what would happen to the project if it does not get the green light to go forward without commercial, but it would be “difficult” to proceed with the development as a result.

Depending on how much longer the project is on hold, previous special-use permit approvals could expire, impacting how the project could proceed, said Thanh Dang, assistant director of community development for the city.

“There’s a number of scenarios,” she said.

In other business Wednesday, Planning Commission offered favorable recommendations for a rezoning and special-use permit request for a maximum 40-unit town home development on 3.14 acres at 601 Pear St. called Cobbler’s Court from Cobbler’s Valley Development Inc. and another set of requests for a rezoning, special-use permit and subdivision for a different town home development on 2 acres at the end of Suter Street.

The Suter Street request is from PDY LLC and includes ending the street with a cul-de-sac.

Plans call for 22 town homes each on their own parcel and a public 8-foot-wide shared-use path that could be used by first responders or vehicles in an emergency. The homes are slated to be priced between $200,000 and $270,000, according to applicant documents.

“This is the kind of housing we need in Harrisonburg,” Finnegan said.

These development requests will also go before City Council on Sept. 14.